Eddie Howe

[BrickTop]

Given the circumstances - need to rotate, certain key players out of form, playing a side who out-pressed us at home last season and have started this season very well I think Howe made the right choice setting up to keep it tight today. 

 

I must say though we do generally feel a long way from the team of 2023 from an attacking perspective. A lot of the players who were so effective going forward for us back then like Gordon, Trippier, Joelinton & Willock are horribly out of form, the latter looking a shadow of himself today compared to a couple of seasons ago. 

 

[TRon]

We just need to stay in touch with the likes of Chelsea and Spurs for the next month, then we can make up the ground once Wissa and Ramsey come back into the reckoning. 

[Optimistic Nut]

Just now, TRon said:

We just need to stay in touch with the likes of Chelsea and Spurs for the next month, then we can make up the ground once Wissa and Ramsey come back into the reckoning. 

 

Think we're 2 points down on what would be "par" for the fixtures we've had. Beat Arsenal and we're probably not far off what you'd expect points wise from the 6 games we've had. 

[TRon]

Just now, Optimistic Nut said:

 

Think we're 2 points down on what would be "par" for the fixtures we've had. Beat Arsenal and we're probably not far off what you'd expect points wise from the 6 games we've had. 

 

 

I think we have to look further out than the Arsenal game, a point would probably be a decent result against them when we aren't at full strength. 

[jack j]

2 minutes ago, TRon said:

We just need to stay in touch with the likes of Chelsea and Spurs for the next month, then we can make up the ground once Wissa and Ramsey come back into the reckoning. 

Leeds away is the only game I think we have dropped points from what I expected when I seen our first five fixtures

 

Villa away looked tough (not so much now but at the time we all thought it would be a tough game and most would have took a point)

We never beat the scouse cunts

Bournemouth away is never easy for us, another one i'd have taken a point if asked

 

Probably 1 point off where I thought we would be

[80]

Yeah, 2 points down on our equivalent fixtures from last season. Leeds being the one that hurts - we did the double over all the bottom 7 or so clubs last season, so a high standard to live up to. 

 

I'm much happier with our start to the season than I was last time around, particularly given the circumstances around our strikers, and European fixtures. Obviously, lots of room for improvement, but it feels like it will come.

[The College Dropout]

Last season we were largely shit for the first 12 games. 
 

We tend to do well against top sides at home because they attack and leave space in behind. Hope that continues. 

[Ben]

Personally I'm not to keen on the 5 at the back, however it does seem to turn last years away defeats into draws

[Coffee_Johnny]

15 hours ago, Ronaldo said:

I do feel for him. After treading water to get 5th it should have been the summer to consolidate that place up there by spending what we’d saved / sold for 2 years. Instead he has to find yet another solution and with players that didn’t make his first or second round picks.

 

On the other hand, I’d question why we still have nothing approaching a playmaker in the squad. Potentially the signing of Elanga too, who looks horribly unsuited to our play when we’re condensing it in the opponent’s half.

 

 

Give it time. Once (if and when) we have a full squad to pick from and players are properly bedded in we will be fierce going forward. 
Re the playmaker issue, I would love to see Gordon, Wissa and Elanga with Woltemade behind, backed up with Tonali and Bruno. That six could produce beautiful fluid attacking  football. 

[Newcastle Fan]

It was great use of the squad yesterday, i think we need to continue doing that in the upcoming three games and trust those that don't start usually to preform when they do start.

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

I do sometimes wonder if people suffer collective amnesia every summer, given that we've started every season slowly under Eddie. Add in the significant turnover and turmoil in the striker department is it any wonder? We'll come good man, the fact that we haven’t really seen Gordon, Woltemade and Elanga on the pitch together yet  makes me excited for what’s to come. Never mind when Wissa and Ramsey are back to bolster things further

[Geogaddi]

Absolutely nothing to worry about , we basically gave everyone a 3 game head start on us with the Isak situation and not having a striker for them first 3 games . Even then we deserved to win at Villa and beat Liverpool.

 

A win over Wolves and a point at Bournemouth since the window closed is a good return . None of the teams we expect to be around look any better than us so far and we have had much tougher fixtures than they have . Still think we will be challenging the top 6 no bother .

[The College Dropout]

Having so many games, late transfers and a few injuries has made it difficult for us to gel.  
 

We look rock solid at the back. But going forward we stink.  

[TRon]

13 hours ago, jack j said:

Leeds away is the only game I think we have dropped points from what I expected when I seen our first five fixtures

 

Villa away looked tough (not so much now but at the time we all thought it would be a tough game and most would have took a point)

We never beat the scouse cunts

Bournemouth away is never easy for us, another one i'd have taken a point if asked

 

Probably 1 point off where I thought we would be

 

 

I think we are about 3pts short of where I would like us to be, given I think Villa have been awful, and I think Leeds are one of the sides who will be battling relegation. But against that, losing Wissa has been a massive blow, so I can understand us playing conservatively given the lack of goalscorers available. 

 

We just need to pick up points where we can until we have more options up front. 

[Roids]

Happy that he rotated so much for Bournemouth (bodes well we were able to do so with Wissa & Ramsey missing)

We actually have a decent squad bar the 9 position, we probably lose that if the same guys from Thurs played.

The aforementioned will be such great additions though I fear Ramsey is the type to go in and out injury

[The College Dropout]

Being a CL side - you are always going to miss players.

 

Arsenal were without Odegaard and Havertz on the weekend.

 

Our issue is we still have a small squad. It's better now than it was last time and it helped us earn a point and rest some key players.

 

The secondary issue is that I think the squad lacks class/ability. So far, it doesn't look like any of our signings are significantly better than a starter from last season. But they are nearly all better than the other players from last season. Higher floor lower ceiling.

[TRon]

52 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Being a CL side - you are always going to miss players.

 

Arsenal were without Odegaard and Havertz on the weekend.

 

Our issue is we still have a small squad. It's better now than it was last time and it helped us earn a point and rest some key players.

 

The secondary issue is that I think the squad lacks class/ability. So far, it doesn't look like any of our signings are significantly better than a starter from last season. But they are nearly all better than the other players from last season. Higher floor lower ceiling.

 

 

It's a deeper squad, but the reserves are still not that great compared to the cartel teams. We have some decent secondary players, but take the big hitters out and they struggle to make much impact. Losing one striker like Isak shouldn't have made us look impotent, but even our record last season in games he missed wasn't great. Ditto Bruno. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Lower ceiling is just because of Isak leaving though, otherwise the ceiling is the same or higher. Not really anything we could have done to raise the ceiling while selling one of the best strikers in the world. 

[aussiemag]

4 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

It's a deeper squad, but the reserves are still not that great compared to the cartel teams. We have some decent secondary players, but take the big hitters out and they struggle to make much impact. Losing one striker like Isak shouldn't have made us look impotent, but even our record last season in games he missed wasn't great. Ditto Bruno. 

 

With Wissa, Ramsey, Schar and Gordon available, the squad is alot stronger. 

[TRon]

3 minutes ago, aussiemag said:

 

With Wissa, Ramsey, Schar and Gordon available, the squad is alot stronger. 

 

 

I saw some stats this morning which shows us as having among the lowest XGs in the PL in the 5 games so far. Lowest shots on target and such as well. So despite our apparent squad strength, it does look like we rely a lot on a few key players. 

[Mole]

If you were to ask someone what the front 6 would be going post Transfer Window.

 

Not only have we never seen it once but we've seen multiple instances of 3-4 players being out due to injury, suspension or rotation.

 

I don't think it's fair to point out a lack of squad depth when that squad has already has already been hit 3-4 times. That's completely the point, of course the depth looks worse under those circumstances.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2025 by Mole

[Pata]

18 hours ago, midds said:

Think he's suffering a bit from Rafa's short blanket for the time being. We look solid and assured defensively but it's pretty bland going forward. Can't blame him and the injury to Wissa before he's even kicked a ball for us is a major kick in the knackers too. We've only conceded to Liverpool and Barca so far but taking just 3 points from Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth away seems a little light. He'll get it right once we have more options. Just feels like we're still waiting for it to click, we can't find third gear yet

 

I don't think 3 points from those are that light. No one would've been shocked if we lost at both Villa and Bournemouth, Leeds away is never that easy either. It feels light considering the performances though especially when you add the loss to Liverpool after a brilliant performance.

 

This feels very much the opposite of early last season when we were picking up points with poor performances. Yesterday wasn't dominant or anything but it was a good and really solid performance against a team that has given us lots of trouble lately while rotating heavily.

[Casey]

Had myself a brief looksy at a Bournemouth forum. As a fanbase they're about as well-equipped to comment on Howe as any.

 

There was a general consensus amongst them of mild surprise at how we setup, to paraphrase: 

 

"Never thought I'd see Howe be so pragmatic. They're strong defensively and didn't expect to see them setup not-to-lose instead of going for it, but it worked and suppressed our attack"

 

Clearly it's not exciting and we lack thrust offensively, but flexibility from Howe is something I felt was lacking previously and so I am happy. 

 

Once Wissa and Ramsay are back and we've bedded in the whole team, I expect us shape up more offensively but having this defensive foundation surely cannot be a bad thing. 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2025 by Casey

[The College Dropout]

43 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Lower ceiling is just because of Isak leaving though, otherwise the ceiling is the same or higher. Not really anything we could have done to raise the ceiling while selling one of the best strikers in the world. 

Aye we’ve lost our best player so by definition our ceiling is lower. 
 

Elanga isn’t night and day better than Murphy so far. And the rest aren’t automatic starters (excluding the strikers who aren’t as good as Isak).  
 

It’s harder to get such big jumps in quality with the squad we have now. But even Burn to Botman you can see how Botman is better on the ball and almost as good in the air. Another Tonali/Bruno level player would take the level up despite how good Joelinton is. 
 

Having Gordon back will be big. 

[Kanj]

Being pragmatic has shown the levels Howe has moved up imho. He's fully aware of what we are capable of currently with the squad at hand and he did the smart thing and played the points game versus stretching ourselves to either blow hard to get 3 points and fail, risk injury without rotation, etc.

 

The season we finished 4th we were defensively brilliant, and I've long said I've liked for us to return to that as having that foundation drilled into the team will do us wonders. A season or two ago we lose Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth away. Obv if we had Wissa I'd have fancy us to play similary with Isak having a striker with bags of pace and great finishing, but alas, we don't but we're building. 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2025 by Kanj